I really love Micha Rhein from IN EXTREMO. With his expressive singing, he sets IN EXTREMO apart from all other medieval rock bands. And now Micha, the last unicorn, has formed a new all-star rock band with four other well-known faces from folk rock, punk rock, and Neue Deutsche Härte, which I approach with mixed feelings.
Because UNIVERSE 25 has nothing in common with IN EXTREMO apart from the "rock" in the music style. It doesn't have to be, but when you've known Micha's singing for 20 years, since "Erdbeermund", then his and IN EXTREMO's medieval rock has just gotten into your blood, and mixing blood rarely does any good.
Thus, the lyrics on their debut album are almost all relatively depressing and overwhelming. It starts with the first song "Am Morgen danach", which at just over 5 minutes is also the longest song on the album, and ends with the eleventh, the last song "Horizont in Flamen".
Exceptions prove the rule, as can be heard hopefully in the song "Nur wegen Dir": "...because of you, the sun also shines at night".
And then there are also songs that I find really difficult. For example, in "Harte Kost", it starts with "I am the chef..." (which reminds me of "Bernd" by HASENSCHEISSE), but then it continues with fake news and conspiracy theories.
Or like in "Wir warten" where rhymes are forced at all costs. For example, in the chorus "And in Monaco, the beautiful and the rich walk over corpses...", the verses are no better "We wait for the right time, we wait for the tax assessment, we wait for the lottery win, we wait for the start of vacation...". That's quite uncreative.
In any case, the 47 minutes on the album showcase a really extremely fat synth-rock to metal sound. You just have to go along with it when "Universe 25" plays at 130 km/h and 130 decibels in the car... No matter how unimaginative or ambitious the lyrics are. Check out the YouTube links.
What particularly pleased me is the cover version of "Der Traum ist aus" by TON STEINE SCHERBEN. I love the song.... Well, the original.... And the cover version is not far behind, played a bit "more modern, fatter, harder", but it just fits.... Additionally, here’s something from the press text that really touched me and I want to share: Micha Rhein has a very special connection to the song: "I had the great honor of meeting Rio Reiser a few times during his lifetime. After his death, their guitarist Lanrue asked me if I would like to sing two songs at a memorial concert. For me, an absolute knight's blow! When Rio was still buried on his farm in Fresenhagen, I scattered flower seeds on his grave every year. As the singer of TON STEINE SCHERBEN, he made an invaluable contribution to German rock music and, not least, to political awareness with his system-critical lyrics. Each of us grew up with TSS records like 'Keine Macht für Niemand'..." WOW!!!
Meanwhile, Alex Schwers, who among others plays with SLIME and now also sits behind the drums for UNIVERSE 25 and organizes Ruhrpott Rodeo and Punk im Pott, would certainly have wished for his favorite musician Udo Lindenberg. @Alex: See Alex, everyone prefers Rio over Udo ;-)
